Nashville’s government departments have been warned to take a conservative approach to spending this year, a message that will inform the budget hearings that begin Monday with Mayor David Briley.
The scenario is a departure from the past few years, when expanded projects and hiring requests were often approved and Metro’s operating budget was allowed to grow.
“There’s no doubt, this is going to be a challenging budget cycle,” said Councilman Freddie O’Connell. “Departments should get prepared to live with status quo budgets or those that might be anywhere from 1 to 5 percent cuts.”
O’Connell’s take follows
a memo from Finance Director Talia Lomax O’dneal that emphasized financial caution in several ways — calling for department leaders to “refocus,” be “prudent,” and to “seek efficiencies.”
“We will not consider expanded programming or services,” she wrote.
Her sobering message has already colored comments by other officials, including Briley, who on his first night in office called attention to the “difficult” budget as an early challenge.
The finance memo cites several factors leading to the stingy budget. Among them: the finance department says tax revenues aren’t growing like they had in recent years — and that property taxes are especially uncertain after a large increase in homeowners who appealed their reappraisals last year.
The department also wants to increase its fund balance reserves, and says Metro is contending with rising health care costs for employees and increased debt service payments.
See a full schedule of this week’s budget hearings:
here.
On Air - 90.3 WPLN-FM